Argentinians and Brazilians are by far the worst. This is especially so when you compare them to what their countries have achieved in the last century or so. Trying to think of "famous" academics I can come up with maybe one Brazilian and zero Argentinians.

You have clearly not idea what you are saying. I'm not Brazilian nor Argentinian, but there is an impressive number of top scholars from these countries. Think of Werning, Hopenhayn, Lagos, Buera, Scheinkman, just to name a few

Argentinians and Brazilians are by far the worst. This is especially so when you compare them to what their countries have achieved in the last century or so. Trying to think of "famous" academics I can come up with maybe one Brazilian and zero Argentinians.

That's exactly the problem when americans start talking about ANY country other than their own (Argentina, Brazil, China, India, France, Italy, Australia, you name it!). They're extremely self-centered and have no f**king clue on what is going on around the world. If they care about some international news, it's only because it is somehow linked to them, at least indirectly.

I will say my two cents as a Brazilian myself who has studied this country for many years. I no longer live there, thank god!

Everything comes down to a mixture of isolation and leftism operating on the best breeding ground for all kind of nonsense and idiocy: an uneducated population (6.7 years of education on average) of hillbillies (un-cultured).

- The dominance of the leftwing mindset in all major dimensions of this society (economy, education, politics) has made Brazil very unwelcoming and suspicious of international integration. Couple that with the aversion to competition Brazilians have and what you have is a country that uses its own history as a standard of comparison. In this setting, it has been easy for the government to advertise (1) the bumps in GDP growth they have experienced in recent years and (2) the foreign investment the high interest rates and the recession in developed economies have contributed to attract to as proof that the country is on the blink of turning into a super power. A country whose population has 6.9 years of education on average is obviously a fertile ground for deceptive propraganda and the spread of self-delusion.

Don't fool yourself though. Under this nationalistic pride and arrogance is a strong sense of insecurity for they know deep down that Brazil is a shithole that has no history of wordly-recognized achievements, except in some sports which is irrelevant anyway.

Knowing where you stand as a country in the grand scheme of things requires worldly knowledge and a sense of proportion. Both are scarce resources in the so-called "developing" countries. Therefore it should not come as a surprise that you observe relatively more nationalism and arrogance in places like Brazil, Cuba, Venezuela, Argentina and the likes.

In case you are being ironic: Americans, along with British, Japanese, French, German, Canadian, Australian and Scandinavians COULD BE nationalist and arrogant. They have accomplished many things, some more than others. But they are not. At least not as much as people in shit countries that have absolutely nothing relevant whatsoever to be proud of.